my random thoughts..

collexion

“ With fire and sword, with crow bars and axes, they carried on day after day their work of destruction. Never perhaps in the history of the World has such havoc been wrought, and wrought so suddenly, on so splendid a city, teeming with a wealthy and industrious population in the full plentitude of prosperity one day, and on the next seized, pillaged and reduced to ruins, and scenes of savage massacre and horrors begging description.”

– Robert Sewell in his book "The Forgotten empire" on the plunder aftermath Battle of Talikota and the downfall of the majestic , magnificent Vijayanagara empire.Folklore says, in the capital city of Vijayanagara , the loot continued for 6 months day in and day out.

Every ruin has a story. Every monument hides more than what it reveals. Every building throws a glimpse of majestical Vijayanagara times.

A view from Matanga Hill of Krishna Temple which was constructed after Vijayanagara empire victory over King of Odisha.

The Vijayanagara Empire was an empire based in South India, in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of Sangama Dynasty. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts by the southern powers to ward off Islamic invasions by the end of the 13th century. It lasted until 1646 although its power declined after a major military defeat in 1565 by the Deccan sultanates. The empire is named after its capital city of Vijayanagara, whose ruins surround present day Hampi, now a World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India.

The architecture style has been prominent and inspired later Hindu temple constructions.The empire’s patronage enabled fine arts and literature to reach new heights in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit, while Carnatic music evolved into its current form.

Sri Krishnadevaraya is most prominent ruler of the empire and presided over the empire’s zenith.Known to almost every Telugu household as Rayala vaaru and the man behind “Rayalaseema” nomenclature , built the magnificient Hampi . Sri Krishnadevaraya and Tenali Ramakrishna are Telugu’s own Akbar-Birbal twosome.

Our trip started with we luckily getting upgraded to AC 3 tier from SL and getting down at Hospet Railway station (Northern Karnataka ) on the next day morning. We booked rooms in Lakshmi Heritage Hotel (which met our expectations ) in Hampi Bazaar , the downtown Hampi. Hampi is 13 km from Hospet and one can stay in Hotels there. Hampi is one of 15 UNESCO heritage site cities in India and frequented by more foreigners than Indians. We have met people from atleast 8-10 countries from Europe to Russia to Japan. There are decent enough restaurants serving all kinds of cuisines (Continental, Israeli, Chinese, Indian ) to cater to foreign tourists and autowallahs, roadside vendors speak English ,French,Spanish better than Telugu. One can see guides explaining History coupled with Puranas at the ruined temple sites to foreign tourists.

Early morning sunrise view of Achyutaraya temple from Matanga Hill

There are numerous points to visit in Hampi if you get yourselves into listening Autowallahs or guides. We , decided to do one day tour with a autowallah (typically charges 800 INR per day ) and covered some places . Next day explored places on our own. One can skip some places as many are temples, if not interested.One can get a map of Hampi ruins online or can buy a small guide for 10-20 Rs once you land there.

Major sites are Main Virupaksha temple near Hampi Bazaar , Vittala temple where Sun chariot and Musical Mantap is located , Monolithic statue temples to showcase the proficiency of artists at that time, Matanga Hill for a super sunrise hike , Achyutaraya temple for the photography enthusiasts , Tungabhadra river banks for an awesome early morning hike , Hazari Rama temple for some sculptural majesty, Malyavantha temple for another top view of Hampi, Anjandari hillock for a grand Hampi view , Sunset point for a surreal experience, Kings and Queens buildings mixed with Hindu and Muslim Architecture, and Royal Enclosure and surroundings(Lotus Mahal, Elephants stable) to showcase how a kingdom existed. Every place has a story ,importance and vitality of its own. We havent covered some we thought would be not so great.

The Archaeological Survey of India museum at Kamalapura exhibits some of the relics excavated and throws light on some of the grand efforts of our archaeologists in excavations which brought the ruins out. The grandeur of the empire can be understood in the literary works of various foreign visitors during Vijayanagara time presented there. It is said that Diamonds , Gold and metals were sold on Streets of Vijayanagara Hampi.

Early morning view of Achyutaraya temple on hike way to Vittala Temple.

Rate this:

Like this:

I still remember the way i cursed shaoib akhtar when you got out after blitzkrieg 98 against Pakistan in World Cup 2003.

I still remember the goose bumps when i watched your Sharjah desert storm innings .

I still remember the day when you scored 200* , listening to the live commentary by calling up a friend , cursing myself for working till late, and later messaging every body “ Happy Sachin Day”

I still remember the efforts and adventures i put in to watch an IPL match live just to see you.

I still remember , my early childhood, running to the nearby store to get the batteries for the radio as electricity was off.

Thankyou Sachin for all those moments and memories.ThankYou.

This is my humble tribute to the man who made me feel joy, feel happy, feel nervous, feel exhilarated,feel accomplished, feel celebrated and at last brought tears in my eyes today.

Every young boy in India wants to bat like Sachin, be like Sachin or at best one fortunate just be able to take an autograph to make his own life complete.

He does what our national anthem could never do, what stories of our freedom struggle could never do, what our national leaders over all these years could not even some close to, and to an extent what even Mahatma Gandhi couldn’t manage to do. He brings Indians together. Sachin Tendulkar is one and the only thing India unites on. Be it Hindus, Muslims, North Indians, South Indians, Living in India, NRIs, guys, girls, the urban high rise city folks or the farmer in the village, when Sachin is in 90s we all have but one wish in our hearts.

Probably the only person who is known more than the sport he plays. He is the only person who can make cricket fans cheer for his earlier wicket. A person who is capable of freezing the Indian Time.The only person who can crash cricinfo servers.A man who turned a sport into an art. He is the anti-depressant for a nation.He is the man who can control the raging crowd in a stadium . Records are just a reverberation of his talent. He is a Habit . He is the closest i know to GOD .

PS- There is a popular opinion that Dravid has been shadowed over Sachin in all this fame. Iam a big dravid-follower myself, but when Rahul Dravid says “Sachin is my inspiration “ , there should be no further thoughts. DOT.

”Sachin is like the poetry of the cricket and Dravid is like the grammar of Cricket”.

Rate this:

Like this:

Internet has changed the way we connect, the way we communicate and the way we share . Internet has changed the way we express, the way we entertain and the way we get enlightened. Internet has changed the way we explore, the way we experience and the way we enjoy the world. Now its time to move on to the next level and see whats going to be changed with this Internet communications. Internet is already disrupting these three spheres of our life and this is going to be big in coming days.

Healthcare

Education

Governance

If there is one aspect of life, which even after spending billions and billions into technology, we are still unable to cope up to the challenge, its Healthcare. We are making huge progress in Biosciences and creating an enormous impact by curing the most deadly diseases on the planet. Internet will help these fruits to be available for all. A patient in Africa can connect with a doctor in India or a doctor in United states and get treated with the help of telemedicine or e-medicine facilities. Internet is helping to get more people to access to healthcare and decrease the costs of healthcare in various countries. Some internet startups are trying to disrupt the Complex US healthcare system and this is another list of startups in SanFrancisco.

“In rural Bangladesh, 90 percent of births occur outside hospitals. A mobile-notification system alerts clinics to dispatch nurse–midwife teams, who are now present in 89 percent of births. In China, a public–private partnership created a cardiovascular-monitoring system that allows patients to self-administer electrocardiograms and transmit data to specialists in Beijing, who can suggest treatments by phone. At New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital, a venture with General Electric uses smart tags to track the flow of hundreds of patients, treatments, and medical assets in real time. The hospital estimates it could potentially treat 10,000 more patients each year as a result and generate $120 million in savings and revenues over several years.” – McKinsey Quarterly Report.

There are internet startups in India which ease the pain of various healthcare related tangles ranging from getting a doctor appointment ,to advise on symptoms , to have a discussion with doctors ,to buy pharmacy online, to buy healthcare products online and much more . Complete list can be found here .Working in a healthcare organization , it is exciting to know what progress can be possible. Education is the only solution to elevate people out of poverty and there are at least 20- 30 % of world population with very low income levels and cannot afford a meal day .To make education accessible for all and available for all, Internet plays a key role. Khan Academy is pioneering in flattening the education field .Anyone who has access to Internet can be educated . Right now, the growth of MOOC courses which started offering free online education is super successful. Coursera , Udacity and edX are complementing the school/college education and also helping people gain free knowledge.Everyone , even a PHD should try these out. There are internet platforms offering tutoring services, offering textbook rentals, offering test preparation services, consolidating video lectures,providing virtual classrooms and most importantly developing educational games . Some exciting list is here and the possibilities are endless. Students now have the entire knowledge at their fingers thanks to Wikipedia and Google. The tablet revolution is turning the tide of how education is perceived and is disrupting the Education landscape in a way that was never imagined , equalising the Education advantage across the world. Social platforms like Linkedin enables to connect professionals like never before and engage more. India is not far behind this revolution, though there is a lot to pickup the race and there are some exciting internet platforms striving for the change.

Finally, the most important change that just started is the way how governments perform their Governance. Obama has successfully used the Internet trends to maximize his victory chances and projects like CodeforAmerica are changing the landscape on how internet can be put to public use. Almost all the government agencies in many countries have online grievance redressal systems and are used effectively for tracking the people issues.Many governments are already using the Web to improve services and reduce waste. Governments can also use IT to better engage citizens, as South Korea has done with its e-People site, which helps citizens send online civil petitions for policy changes or reports of corruption. Our next world leaders are moving to the internet for their political aspirations and be more reachable to their electoral franchise. Media , now a days takes almost any news and issues from the buzz on SocialMedia and which in turn shapes the political discourse of a country.Its widely acknowledged that Facebook and Twitter played a major role in Arab Spring . Technology is transforming and bringing a new wave of democracy in Africa. In India, we have internet platforms like PRS legislative documenting the legislative procedure and is bringing the complex constitutional process to common man.Andhra Pradesh has pioneered in e-governance initiatives helping citizens bringing government functions to his doorstep .Almost every state government is pursuing e governance initiatives and trying to bring transparency. Open Data initiatives are catching up in India and Govt of India has officially announced open data platform.Some government agencies are active on SocialMedia are resolving queries.And very recently the main political parties have taken their battle to the internet sphere with mocking websites. Almost every news channel takes the issues which are on buzz on SocialMedia and on internet. Major political parties now have digital campaign management teams. It is estimated that SocialMedia plays major role in election outcomes in India, in the coming general Elections.

Rate this:

Like this:

Having completed three years of technical education and in the vanaprastha stage of engineering, thoughts crossed my mind to share something related to techie stuff .

I want to start a new blog , not to disturb this random thoughts. I required a name to suit something relating to technology and stuff.

Some of the good names came cross are: Ctrl-alt-del, alt-f4, tech-tatva etc etc. But all was in vain as all the names were taken by somebody else.

Someday, a name suddenly flashed “2power21”, I liked it prolly because of its Google instinct. Google means “something to the power of something “and it also had the same essence. So, the name fixed to be “2power21”.